#instead of having the two characters who are basically going through the same situation interact

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  @midsummer-semantics! QueenOfSwords1312 has posted 51 fics to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and 50 of them are in the Steddie tag!

@tedewitt recommends the following works by @midsummer-semantics:

A Kind of Merry War

Free-Use Health Care

Dia de los Muertos

The Fool, The World, and Everything in Between

Don't threaten me with a good time

"Jordan is an incredible writer first and foremost. They have a passion for writing that you don’t see every often. Their fics transport you into the world they’ve built and breathe new life into familiar characters." -- @tedewitt

Below the cut, @midsummer-semantics answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I’ve somehow managed to make these guys my entire personality since they very very briefly interacted two years ago. Weirdly enough, I wasn’t even a huge fan of Steve until s4 (blasphemy, I know), but the Steddie brainrot took hold immediately and I feel like they’re genuinely such adaptable characters that putting them in a million different situations and seeing how they’d interact is one of the best parts.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Getting together, hands down. I will read them getting together in the same way a million times and never get tired of it, but everyone writes such interesting ways that it’s always good every single time.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Didn’t know they were dating. The small acts of domesticity that leads them to the realization they’ve basically been together without the kissing (and other things) all along it so fun and funny to me. Especially if it’s what leads to Steve’s sexual awakening.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

“Come what may (i will love you until my dying day)” by emurph_24. It changed my life in so many amazing ways and I credit that fic as the reason why I got into the fandom space itself and not just writing my little fics for funsies. Plus, the author is my wife now.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Eventually I’d love to write a proper Getting Back Together fic, but I hate making them fight and break up so it’s going to take some mental and emotional gymnastics in order to do that first before the good thing happens.

What is your writing process like?

It varies. Either I start with a proper detailed outline, every major plot point I want to hit laid out with a checklist and I go through each part until I’ve hit them all. Or I have one single idea or inspirational quote/event/story I heard somewhere in mind and I just insert Steddie into it instead. The first one takes me weeks to get through. The second I usually end up writing 10k in a day. Either way, I talk through pretty much everything with Tara (TEDewitt) and Erin (emurph_24) before and during the writing, and they’re the best hype-people and betas anyone could ask for.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I almost always start fics with the name of the person whose point of view will be used within the first sentence. “Eddie Munson is a fool.” “They’ve been dancing around each other for months and it’s driving Eddie up the wall.” “Steve knows he and Eddie are close.” I’m not sure why I do that, but I think it just makes it easier on my brain to know right away whose brain I’m using. I also hope it makes things clearer for people who read my stuff.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

I tend to post when I finish writing (once Tara and Erin have had a chance to look through it), but I’d never published an entire fic chapter by chapter once it’s entirely written. I usually post chapters as I finish them, which makes me pretty bad about irregular updates (Sorry!). But I’ve been part of a few events now that have posting schedules and those have been WORLDS better about keeping me on track for things.

Which fic are you most proud of?

It’s a toss-up between “The Fool, The World, and Everything in Between,” “Free-Use Healthcare,” and “A Kind of Merry War.” The first is my longest fic and what I feel is the first real deep-dive into the characters, and it’s my baby. The second just did really really well and I’m still a little in shock by it. And the third was not only fun but everything I like to see in Shakespeare adaptations so it was a successful adaptation in my book.

How did you get the idea for Don't threaten me with a good time?

We all know the phrase “write what you know” and I’ve, frankly, lived a really weird life. So the story is literally just a Steddified version of a celebrity run-in I had on my birthday a few years back.

When writing The Fool, The World, and Everything in Between, what was something you didn’t expect?

I didn’t expect it to be as long as it is lol I mean, I knew it was going to be 22 chapters, but I didn’t really know going in how long those chapters would be.

What inspired The Fool, The World, and Everything in Between?

The major arcana, and my desire to write a fix-it of volume 2. I just really think Eddie deserved to live and the major arcana do tell “the fool’s story” so it was a great way to make that happen.

What was your favorite part to write from Dia de los Muertos?

The first kiss. Well, the entire thing was fun to write, but again, I’m a sucker for those boys getting together, and Eddie’s little panic attack when he surprise-kisses Steve the first time because he just can’t help it was so fun.

How do/did you feel writing Free-Use Health Care?

Like a horny goblin took over my brain and was controlling me Ratatouille-style until suddenly there was 10k words in less than 24 hours. It wasn’t even supposed to be two parts, it was only going to be one with an open ending, but I literally couldn’t stop thinking about a part 2 as I was writing part 1 so here we are.

What was the most difficult part of writing A Kind of Merry War?

Textual interpretation. I’m really familiar with Much Ado About Nothing from years of working with it, but trying to make the actual lines from the play that are featured in the fic make sense in a way that is easily understandable to non-Shakespeare fans without derailing the pacing or taking people out of the story was an insane balancing act. I like to think I nailed it, though.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

In “Where lovers used to live (But they’ve been gone for quite some time)”, Steve finally gets to have the post-Eddie breakdown he deserves, but interwoven in that breakdown is repeated flooding of memories of how they got together before Eddie died. My favorite is when they’re getting a small moment in the RV just the two of them and Eddie is reading the Silmarillion to Steve, and Steve makes Eddie promise that when they survive the battle, they’ll run away together. Broke my own heart writing it, but god it was good.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I always have something up my sleeve, but the current and most exciting is the Eddie Munson Big Bang. I’m working with helpimstuckposting on an omegaverse Practical Magic AU called “Pressure in Increments,” coming very soon!

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

I’ve really met some of the coolest people in the world through this fandom and I think their friendship has really helped this not die for me even when there’s times it gets overwhelming or I feel like I’m losing momentum to write. I know that no matter what else is going on, I have the boys and my friends in my corner, and that’s the best part of it all.

Thank you to our author, @midsummer-semantics and our nominator, @tedewitt! See more of QueenOfSwords1312's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[polichinelle]

yeah fuck it i'm making this its own post. basically very long winded (but still not as extensively detailed as i'd like) thoughts on adam & ronan (sort of) & whelk & noah

i remember reading the raven boys back in 2014 (ten years of rot in my brain!) and being sooo disappointed that there was basically zero fandom interest in whelk & noah beyond "omg whelk is evil and awful and terrible, poor baby noah!" when that is not the narrative surrounding them, not really. i feel it's a disservice to both of their characters to do that, especially noah's:

there is nuance there. there are implications. like... it's ALL about the implications!!! we basically see nothing of whelk and noah beyond what's left after the carnage. and it's a theme in trc for characters to have irreparably changed before we ever meet them (gansey, ronan, whelk, noah). we don't know what they were actually like when noah was alive, when they were best friends. when they were tight as ticks.

what we do know is this: whelk was noah's gansey. whelk was cheating on his own girlfriend with noah's, which is a shitty thing to do for sure, but something we also have zero context for. we also don't know how true it is, because whelk has such a self-inflicted warped view of his past. he keeps rewriting his own memories to think lesser of noah, because his absence hurts that much! we know they were best friends, the same way adam & ronan are best friends with gansey. we know they did everything together

okay, changing gears a little.

i'll paste the part where adam is possessed, sorry for the amount of screenshots:

and this line from a bit further along the chapter:

then, from noah's possession scene:

compare this to whelk's recollection of killing noah, and the effects it had on him:

"red lines streaked in the corners of his vision" "in whelk's head, unearthly voices hissed and whispered, words blurred and stretched together" "dictated by something larger and more powerful than himself" "somehow invited into his body through czerny's death" yes i am going there, yes i am making that point. i think, to some extent, barrington was possessed when he murdered his best friend. neither noah nor adam get their own pov while possessed, so...

i mean, time is a circle. noah needed to die so that gansey would live. noah had already died, gansey had already lived. it needed to happen, and so it would.

where the difference lies, i think, is in barrington's reaction to being possessed, versus adam/noah. for all that i'm arguing possession, i don't think barry's a stand up guy, he's a kid who's never had good role models (need i pull out the quotes about his shit parents) and who was raised by money and objects and reputation, which is why i think the possession worked. the idea to kill noah might've seemed like his own in the moment, an escalation of the situation he was already in, but unlike adam/noah there was no one to hold him back (not to mention barrington isn't as familiar with magic things(?) as they are). in that moment, whelk did truly lost it. he did the unforgivable. but there is no universe in which he doesn't.

for every time we see noah reenacting his death, we also need to imagine barrington whelk, seventeen and shivering. realizing as he's committing the act that he can't go back. perhaps realizing too that he couldn't stop his hands from gripping onto that skateboard, no matter how much he wanted to after that first hit. ("But instead, he remembered the sound Czerny made the first time he hit him.")

there's also adam in this. both him as a parallel to barrington, and as a strange sort of part of noah in a way. adam and noah interact the least out of the main group, arguably, but they too are a two-headed creature; they started out as one singular character and you can sort of tell. something something hands and eyes, something something sacrifice. ronan sort of parallels noah, in that he is not the same lively person we hear about, and he never will be that person again. both are cabeswater personified (although in different ways).

some more things:

"he once had been tight as ticks with his roommate czerny" "only whelk and czerny, treasure hunters and troublemakers" "it was possible that czerny's death wasn't for nothing after all" "[...] his days a ribbon floating aimlessly in water" (in relation to: "he had been a swimmer himself, once") "czerny, you're in a better place than me, i think" "whelk, standing in the wreckage of his life, didn't laugh this time" "the dry, half-eaten burger on the passenger seat / the first fast-food burger he'd had in seven years" "these days, when whelk was trying to comfort himself, he told himself that czerny was a sheep, but sometimes he slipped and remembered him as loyal instead" "[...] took him back to that moment, the skateboard in his hands, the sad question gasped in czerny's dying sounds "we were friends like —"

also, whelk dying in the same place noah did. these lines:

both noah and barrington look the same in the end. broken, rumpled, forgotten. noah's family will never know his bones were reburied outside of their family plot. whelk's mother, however distant she is, will never be notified that her son has died. i think in a way barrington died at the exact same time noah did; something something invited into his body through czerny's death.

basically what i'm getting at is, noah and barry could've been ronan and adam i think, had the circumstances been different. they never will be, but i think about it sometimes.

and there's so many more things i'm not even gonna TRY going into, like noah and whelk both being parallels to gansey (the three of them kings in their own right), or the disparity between whelk talking about czerny vs adele talking about noah, or whatever the fuck is going on with whelk's backstory in general (what's the deal with his mother? how the hell did he get the aglionby job? a random headcanon of mine is that his and noah's search for the ley line lead them to fox way, seven years before the events of the book, and that's partly why whelk refuses to give out his name to maura, because barrington is hard to forget, and easy to trace back)

there is so much to talk about here and i'm so peeved no one is doing it properly... why are we still talking about declan bringing his weekly girlfriend over to monmouth for no reason when we could be talking about whatever the fuck kinda soul-fate-destiny bullshit noah and whelk have!

[chaoxgardens]

An In-Depth Analysis of Sonilver in Sonic 06 (with some other media sprinkled in)

Sonilver is a pairing very near and dear to my heart, but exclusively when it comes to their “rival era” of sorts. (Aka earlier iterations of Silver, primarily Sonic 06)

I believe that they shine best when they have their own goals and either 1: clash heads or 2: team up, depending on if their goals align or not. But we’ll get to that in more detail later. Let’s get to it, shall we?

—————————————

There’s a real irony to their dynamic in this game that I’ve never seen discussed online before. As we all know, Sonic is pretty much the main force or “bringer” of justice in the Sonic universe. I’ll go into more detail about Sonic himself at a later date, but regardless the universe would probably be utterly fucked without the blue blur.

Silver has no prior knowledge of Sonic’s achievements or ideals because he’s from 200 years in the future, and Sonic would be long-gone at that point. (In any canonical sense at least) All he knows about the guy is what Mephiles has told him, that he’s the Iblis Trigger who must be killed to restore peace to his future. Silver then convinces himself it’s okay to kill Sonic because it will bring the justice that his future deserves, even if he has to kill a man (hedgehog) to do it. Ironic, huh? Silver must kill the blinding blue light of justice himself to get the justice he wants for his future.

Even as he meets Sonic in person and gets glimpses of his true nature, (through his own confrontations with Sonic and his allies that defend him) he doubles down and gets more aggressive, believing he MUST be right.

I believe Silver’s sense of pride and stubbornness tends to get overlooked and people instead cling onto the term Naive like a lifeboat, but that’s for another time.

When Silver learns the true story of Mephile’s deceit and Sonic’s nature, that pride and stubbornness prevents him from a proper apology, and he instead pulls the “Circumstances have changed” card. (I love that aspect of his character by the way)

Sonic isn’t the kind of guy to hold grudges, so he quickly forgives him and they become allies. Despite my love for their rivalry, I think this shift to allies works well in 06. Their mutual respect and Silver taking the initiative to carry on when Sonic “dies” is really heartwarming and contrasts well with their earlier interactions. Now, since this is Sonic 06, none of this actually happened technically, and they forget about they had ever met. The angst is real and I love it!

—————————————

Maybe I’ll go more in depth with the Sonic Rivals series at a later date but I’ll give the basics to further my point. Sonic rivals continues their rivalry (hence the name) and has them meet again having no prior knowledge of eachother. The two butt heads as they both try to find Eggman Nega individually, but they eventually set aside their differences and work together when it suits the situation best.

The same thing happens in Sonic Rivals 2 despite their prior team up and their rivalry becomes more competitive than antagonistic. I think this shift between rival or allies depending on the situation is the pinnacle of Sonilver (as is any other pairing in Sonadilver). It highlights their individual ideals and goals while also showing their similarities and sheer ability to thrive as a team.

—————————————

Unfortunately as the years have gone by their rivalry has been watered down to a more palatable allyship with some occasionally teasing. This is mostly due to IDW, but I’ll be here for hours if I discuss all my gripes with that comic series.

Instead, I’ll just say that while I find the teasing endearing, I missed their initial resolve to solve things on their own before working together when they must. I just feel like there’s a lot more flavor and intrigue to that angle that compliments both of their characters better. Regardless, there’s nothing I can do about that. I’ll just continue to wish for my Sonilver beef on a silver platter without an expectation of change.

—————————————

Now you may be asking, okay we get it. They have a cool dynamic, but how do you think a romance between the two would play out? You see, the funny thing is that I don’t want them to become romantic. Sure they might have some hidden not so platonic feelings that they will continue to suppress for eternity (I’m more a queerplatonic shipper myself) , but to try to force them into the standard romantic relationship would absolutely destroy what makes their dynamic so interesting in the first place.

Of course, if you do enjoy romantic Sonilver all the power to ya’, (Sonic and Silver characterizations are so consistent from game to game anyways that it’s nearly impossible to be wrong.) but I personally just don’t see the appeal of putting them in that sort of relationship considering the dynamic I enjoy best.

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Feel free to comment or DM if you have anything to add, I’d love to hear your opinion regardless if you agree with me or not. Let’s just all be civil, alright?

Also as a little addition, I’ve added a song that I think fits my ideal Sonilver dynamic to a T.

- Jay🦔‼️

[ann7av]

Oh DO elaborate on RY liking Xaden more than Violet. You have me intrigued 👀

Okay, here we go again...

(I wrote a LOT, and this is just me contextualizing why I have this feeling)

By the 3/4 mark of FW (after Vi and Xaden have sex for the first time) I noticed a sudden shift of focus in the story, up until that point the narrative was centered around Violet's conflicts in the quadrant, her relationship with her dragons and friends (Liam and Dain specifically), and her own growth regarding her skills and power but after.... well

The story in itself was already pretty centered around developing Vi/Xaden dynamics, and since it's a romantasy that's to be expected, but Violet still had plenty of space to be her own person without him (she deals with Jack on her own; sneaks out with Rhi and Mira in Montserrat; steals the map with her squad during war games; goes to the archives with Liam and interacts with Jesinia. some mommy issues here and there, etc)

Anyways, jumps to them sleeping together -> issues with him not wanting to feel involved because he's lying to her -> reunification day -> love declarations and more sex -> wargames -> she finds out he's lying to her and everything sucks -> wakes up in Aretia

Now IF was something, and I don't want to drag this out too much so just to point out a couple examples:

Violet never goes to Shantara with her friends and instead spends all her time thinking about and interacting with Xaden, we have 1 scene of her actually talking to Rhi and that's it

The time Violet, Mira and Brennan sneaked out to Cordyn to negotiate for the luminary could've been a plot around siblings bonding and talking things over but instead, Xaden gets shoved in the middle of it and now the situation is about Cat being bitchy, and fighting with Vi over Xaden's attention

Violet, Mira, and Brennan do fight a venin together but then the story shifts again to Xaden being overprotective and choking Tecarus and we have no more interaction between the 3 that I can remember (notice they did not, in fact, talk anything through)

There are more moments where I don’t think Xaden was actually necessary to further the plot and could’ve just stayed out so Violet’s other relationships and goals could have some space to be explored more in-depth, it doesn’t help that many of those times he was just in the scene to repeat the same inner conflict Violet had for the tenth time about him and not to actually do something with his character.

Now, besides the overuse of him in the story we also have his description, which basically consists of him being better than anyone else (keep in mind that's a 23yr man), he's the tallest, strongest, more powerful (for now at least), heir of a crown, two incredibly rare signets, is never wrong about anything, always one step ahead (keep in mind he is a 23yr man against an entire government), is the unofficial leader of the revolution, heavily objectified, etc, etc, etc, while everyone else is... just a person - I let that slide because again, romantasy, the love interest is always the tallest guy with the most rare/amazing/special power to ever power until the fmc arrives

Connect that with how RY develops Violet's opposing forces within her circle (the assembly and cat, to be specific), the whole Violet/Xaden/Cat situation is (according to RY) a conflict for power, but when we look at what she actually wrote... that whole "I'm not doing this over a man" argument holds no weight since none of Cat's actions is related to anything besides wanting Xaden back and being his ex

Cat and Violet could've had a genuine rivalry based on their family's history, maybe some academic rivals like we see the two having over the runes and everything but NO, every argument the two had was about who had Xaden first and who he wanted now

When the author repeatedly shifts the focus of the narrative to revolve around the love interest to the detriment of the main character's journey and development I think it is safe to assume said author likes the love interest more than she cares for the main character.

(Biggest proof I can think of is when Mira gets in Aretia, we have sibling drama until Xaden arrives and then oops, just focusing on him now, no more family drama)

Anyway, my last point is how he's framed and excused by the narrative, we have quite a few people openly taking his side on the "full disclosure" conflict (I can think about Imogen and Brennan from memory and will not go back to see who else) and pointing out why Vi was being unreasonable to want to know everything, even RY commented that "it's like dating a CIA agent" or whatever to defend Xaden while, in the text, Violet could not care less about knowing of the revolution, every time she got upset with him was because he was keeping things that involved her.

Big problem with the series actually, we are told a lot of things but not shown any of them.

Another time back in FW when Dain asks "why he has a pass to be overprotective" and the answer Vi gives is not it, multiple times ignoring her boundaries and exercising power over her that are never addressed or even framed as bad, many things glossed over, etc etc.

How he's also portrayed as the only person besides Violet who can actually think, the only one to notice she was poisoning people, the only half-competent assembly member, the only one capable of smuggling weapons (can someone give the man a break, he's overworked)

Also, have you seen RY talking about him in comparison of how she talks about VI or anyone else? I think it is quite obvious actually

[dis-aster9255]

Hi hi hello this is gonna be both a mix of like actual character analysis and a few headcanons cause these characters haven't left my head for two months.

But yeah I'm gonna be applying the idea that Steven, Marc, and Jake are all autistic and it's not just Steven. (based on what I know and my own experiences) :D

(Warning: it's long.)

Steven:

Okay so Steven is the one with the most visible evidence because i believe he's the only one who doesn't try to mask

He either does not care what people think of him or straight up doesn't notice that he's acting differently than "normal"

When he's confused he'll just straight up ask like with Dylan ("are you asking me out??")

The hyperfixation/special interest in ancient egypt. He's learning ancient egyptian and hieroglyphics he's SERIOUS

He works at a museum specifically because of that as well

Taking literally any chance he can to talk about it even if the people he's talking to clearly don't care (ex. Donna)

He got so excited when Layla knew what he was talking about like come on

Also ROUTINE

Every evening he adds the tape on his door, replaces the sand, and puts the ankle restraint on before going to sleep

Ik that's supposed to be because of Marc but it's a routine and it's clearly always done the same every night.

Calls his mother every day even if she doesn't answer (we know why but :( )

Also the necklace. It's barely visible but it is there every day

The way he stands:

Need i say more? I don't but I will

Seriously though I'm pretty sure whenever he's fronting he's like never standing still

Either like this or messing with whatever is in his hands

The rubix cube. He can finish that thing without looking at this point its not a puzzle it's a fidget object.

Now for some not fun things

He gets overwhelmed at least twice in the show

Once after he finds out everything with his mom and once with Layla

The one with Layla I understand completely, stressful situation along with two people yelling at you is the worst thing and I know the exact feeling.

Either way both times he was constantly repeating the same word over and over again while basically folding in on himself to avoid whatever was happening around him.

On a lighter note Steven expresses his genuine excitement openly

He was dead but he was still so happy he finally was able to meet someone who knows what he's talking about in ep 5

Idk how to transiton to Marc but HERE WE GO

Marc:

Okay so while I was doing this I realized I related to Marc a lot damn

Anyways Marc masks the majority of the time

Like all the time I don't think he ever hasn't even around Layla

His voice is so monotone and the way he expresses the changes in emotion is by getting either louder or quieter instead of anything else

That entire scene with Mogart and the sarcophagus. There is not way he wasn't forcing every aspect of that interaction

Holding out his hand until Mogart finally shook it because "this is how normal interactions start right???"

When he's asked why he wants to see the sarcophagus he has no idea how to respond and gives the most non-answer ever. Everyone thinks it's weird but he doesn't notice, it worked so whatever

Episode 5

We all know Marc hides his emotions

It's obvious

But what if he's hiding them because they're too much for him to handle, or he just straight up doesn't understand them

He runs from problems cause he doesn't want to confront his feelings

He ran from Layla because the issue with Khonshu was too much to deal with instead of having one conversation about it

He ran from his mother's shiva cause it was too many conflicting emotions

And when Steven was reliving the worst memory of his life he ran again (idk if it's like actually canon or not but I believe that while Steven was going through the memory he could hear the whole thing echoing through the hallways)

He also seems like the type to not show emotion on his face unless it's a strong one, but that's just what I think I've not no actual evidence for this

Anyways like with Steven he also gets overwhelmed a few times in the series

And he does what not many people are willing to talk about and gets aggressive when that happens yayyyyy /lhj

Seriously though in the scene in ep 5 when he doesn't want to confront his mother's abuse again

Yelling and hitting himself repeatedly same man same

In ep 2 when Steven is yelling at him through the mirror he breaks it so he can get some silence and then gets tormented by Khonshu which rude, asshole

Aggression can seem like the easiest way to deal with things so I get it, it happened quite a few times in this show

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

He also gets hyperfixations he just doesn't exactly have the time to indulge himself

The movie

Idk how much we should trust therapist Harrow in certain things but he made a note to mention that Marc has watched that movie a LOT

He loved that movie as a kid

He doesn't have much of a routine besides putting everything back the way it was before Steven can wake up but I think he deserves one

Jake:

This is gonna be short he had four minutes of screen time and two of those minutes have not actually been confirmed

But yeah he seems like he'd also not care about masking

Though I think if he gets too overwhelmed (which would probably take a lot for it to happen) he'd just end up retreating

Or if it's just someone being annoying he'd deal with them himself (maybe just a good punch in the face no big deal right guys /hj)

Kinda a mix of what both Steven and Marc do it just depends on the situation

Also this is just a thought but I think he'd be the type to be constantly forcing expressions cause he does not have the energy to explain himself verbally

Like yeah he expresses things visually but he over exaggerates them to get the point across if that makes sense

Anyways that's all I have

Kinda went on a rant but I hope it makes sense

I'd be happy to hear anybody else's opinions as well :)

[enhashoutout]

Cobra and Fujio are basically the same person

A rant post on why I personally think these two characters are basically the same person in different bodies

Random background on me as a person: I’ve always been a strong believer that the media we consume can affect/leave an impact on us and how we act, go about life, perceive the world, etc. I’ve done this my whole life, on top of being a fangirl I OVERTHINK about the plot, the characters, the ships, everything. Adding to that, when I hyper fixate on a piece of media I get so invested I pay attention to all the tiny details and micro-analyze characters and their backstories and tie it back to how they act in the story.

Last semester I got to do this in class because I enrolled in a storytelling course and basically the whole time my professor gave us stories to read or movies to watch and then we had to relate it back to real life and analyze the characters behaviors, how they interacted with others, the story themes, etc. Hopefully my professor is proud I continue to use what I learned in their class to apply to my hyper fixation on other fictional characters outside of the course😂

If you look at Cobra and Fujio’s characters on the surface, they might not seem similar. Fujio has a very golden retriever like energy to himself. He’s very extroverted, loud, friendly, bright, and overall very playful and doesn’t take anything too seriously unless the situation calls for it. In contrast, Cobra is more somber and serious. Cobra is more quiet, reserved, very serious, and had a relatively calm demeanor. Well, S.W.O.R.D. Era Cobra is super serious, whereas Mugen Era Cobra isn’t.

Personality wise, Mugen Era Cobra and Fujio are the same. They’re a little bit closer in age, and Cobra is definitely more upbeat during this time period. Maybe even a little less mature in a sense.

Obviously when we meet Cobra we see that he’s gone through a lot to become the person we know him as. Noboru got arrested and couldn’t continue school, Tatsuya was killed, Kohaku disappeared. Eventually Cobra has to take charge and be Sannoh’s leader, deal with Kuryu’s stinky asses, hits a rough patch with some Sannoh members leaving, losing Smoky, you get the point. All this loss and grief causes him to lose his playful demeanor and it’s understandable. Honestly if H&L The Worst X was as serious as any of the first three movies where characters died and Tsukasa died instead of only ending up in the hospital after Amagai dropped his ass from the gym balcony, that shit would’ve sent Fujio into his depresso espresso era also 100%

But yeah, it might not seem like Fujio and Cobra are alike at first until you dive in a little deeper. Let’s start with something small first.

1) Cobra and Fujio’s styling

Something small I noticed was that both characters are styled with a black bandanna in their right pocket. We see this when Cobra interrupts Ranmaru and Rocky’s fight in the second movie and hands Rocky the bandanna after telling him he looked a mess😂 This might also just be Cobra’s way of remembering or holding onto his memories of Mugen because I’m pretty sure all the Mugen members had bandannas on their person but once we enter S.W.O.R.D. Era no one else not even Yamato have a bandanna on them anymore so I think my point stands.

Fujio is the only character I see during The Worst era who has a bandanna tucked into the right pocket of his pants.

2) Both are leaders/have leader mentality

This one is kind of obvious also but let me explain.

Cobra goes on to establish Sannoh and is the leader as well. I admire the way Cobra leads his members. He’s very understanding even if the opinions are different. We see this showcased with Noboru during Road to High&Low when Cobra acknowledges that he knows Noboru is trying to act in the best interest of his friends he’s just going about it in the wrong way. We also see this when Dan, Tettsu, Chiharu, and a few other members walk out of the fight with Doubt. Cobra acknowledges that friends sometimes are not on the same side and that it’s okay when that happens.

Fujio right off the bat has a goal in mind to unite all of Oya, this plays into his leadership style we see throughout both Worst movies. Fujio is a very charismatic person. Right as he enters Oya, he’s able to get many followers without asserting strength or dominance over all of Oya (something Todoroki has been trying to do but can’t achieve. Fight me if you want on this but I don’t think Todoroki would be a good leader lol. That’s a post for another time). We see this when Nakagoshi and Nakaoka agree to follow Fujio in the gym. Yes, Fujio fought with YasuKiyo faction but other than that he doesn’t get into another fight with the other factions. When Yasushi is hospitalized, Fujio at this point isn’t officially Oya’s leader yet but everyone looks to him to see what happens from here. With the mentality of bringing everyone together, Fujio makes it clear that what happened to Yasushi isn’t just a YasuKiyo problem but an Oya problem which prompts the Oya boys to work together to fight with Housen.

So how does this tie the two together?

Both characters have strong leadership skills. Granted they differ slightly but the overall style and tone they take on is that no one gets left behind and that even when the crisis doesn’t directly impact them in anyway, both characters are still willing to jump in to help others.

3) Both see the importance of friendship and the strength of a true alliance

I really do think that friendship kept Cobra going in life. Sometimes it felt like that man was one more crisis away from completely swirling into self destructive behavior but his friendships pulled him out of that. An example of this is how he holds onto Kohaku’s words and teachings to help in certain situations such as the one involving Noboru and Kohaku himself when they are begging him to leave Kuryu and come back to himself.

Fujio being a school aged character we’re obviously gonna see more of his friendships because at that age that’s one of the bigger focuses in life. We see how friendship kept him from being sad and lonely as a kid because his mother was working a lot that’s why he spent time with Seiji, Madoka, and all of them. As a teenager now, his friendship with them is still strong considering this boy literally jumps into a crack farm to pull Arata out of the shit he got himself into. During The Worst X this boy literally becomes friends with the strongest person canonically in the series and then spends the second half of the movie fighting to get his best friend back from being captured.

Both characters directly state the alliance part in their movies.

While Cobra fights Jesse, he tells him something along the lines of “you guys are just a bunch of strays, are you prepared as he is?” Referring to how he knows Rocky has been prepared for this fight from the get go. On top of that, Cobra was the S.W.O.R.D. Leader who suggested the alliance in the first place knowing that they would be stronger together against Kuryu. End of Sky doesn’t focus as much on Kuryu as it does Doubt but it leads into Kuryu so I think this is fitting. Cobra knows that the Prison Gang, Mighty, and Doubt working together would never actually work because they don’t have a bond to fight together they’re just getting a job done. Hyuga even points out that he can’t trust Ranmaru because he throws his men away like they’re trash.

I think this applies to the first movie as well. Cobra knows that Kuryu, Jansung, Mighty Warriors, and Kohaku would not work because it wasn’t a true alliance it was simply made to get a job done. This leads him to suggesting the alliance in the second film.

When H&L The Worst X comes around, we know that Fujio is seen as the leader of Oya and he values his friends a lot. He doesn’t usually refer to the Oya students as troops or comrades unless the situation warrants it, he refers to everyone as friends and also mentions how everyone became friends through fighting. On the rooftop when Todoroki asks if Fujio going against what he thinks is best means that Fujio no longer needs him, but Fujio is quick to tell him that’s not what is going on at all; rather that he has a solution and is willing to set his pride aside for his friends. He then proceeds to tell the remaining Oya guys that the other schools created an alliance but “let’s show them what a real alliance looks like”. This is because Fujio’s thoughts are the same as Cobra’s. Senomon, Kamasaka, and Ebara may have created an alliance but there is no friendship or bond in it, therefore this alliance wouldn’t work or last long. We even see this when Ebara drop out of the alliance. Had Shoji, Fujin, or Raijin been friends with any of the guys from the other schools they probably wouldn’t agree to the rules Todoroki set for their fight. But it’s the fact that they are friends and care for each other that Shoji agrees to Todoroki’s terms. Shoji knows that the other schools are shady so he’s gonna take the opportunity to get the people he actually cares about out of that alliance.

Fujio’s monologue at the end of his fight with Suzaki even highlights the importance of friendship. We see in the first Worst movie that Fujio wants to become the best and be at the top. In The Worst X cross after he reads Sachio’s letter, Jamuo catches him staring at the clouds and tells him he won’t be able to do much with his head in the clouds. To which Fujio proceeds to tell him “being born a man I always felt I needed to be the greatest, but maybe being at the top doesn’t make me a great man.” When Suzaki loses the fight and says that from now on Senomon would be tools for Oya to use, Fujio is quick to shut that mentality down; telling Suzaki that it’s just one fight he lost, and that it doesn’t mean anything. His monologue goes into how it doesn’t matter who’s at the top and who isn’t because look at all the friends around you who are willing to fight for and with you (granted Suzaki and Amagai have no real friends besides each other but I digress pop off inspirational Fujio).

You’ve made it to the end! I know this is just a long rant post and the thoughts aren’t super organized and might not be well explained but it made sense to me so here we are😂

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or on a reblog as well! If you want to disagree with me that’s cool but please do it nicely I’m scared of people on the internet 😂

I have a 3 part H&L series based off the song Hate You by Jungkook in the works, it’s just taking a while to write because there are so many characters to write for.

I also have a story for Hiroto and one for Ice in the works. I genuinely didn’t think I would be writing anything for Mighty because I have a love hate relationship with those characters but I have a plot I consistently think about and think that Ice works best with it so that story will be out eventually also.

[ybe3-fics]

Char study on Akechi Goro

This kinda lengthy but me over thinking his story as a character. Let me know if I'm wrong and stuff which I'll totally fix :3

(I use “story” instead of game because I’ll be going on the anime’s pacing as well)

The way that we view Akechi Goro changes drastically during the story. When he is first introduced, he is shown as this one dimensional distant figure with his only characteristic being his title as detective and high schooler. We view him through the eyes of the public. The only pieces of information we have are news articles and quotes from strangers the story allows us to view at the moment. He is a blank and emotionless non playable character, exactly how everyone else sees him as. None of the general public cares about any more details of his personality and if they do it’s usually from a gossip standpoint as no one is shown worried or concerned about his mental well being. (A high schooler is solving MURDER cases and no one thinks he should be checked up on?)

Later on in the story the main character is finally able to see Akechi in person and hear him speak; giving more information to him as a person. However, the situation that they are in isn't a natural one in the slightest. It is being broadcasted and Akechi is being interviewed. Right off the bat it is quite obvious that he’s only giving the answers that the general public wish to hear. His responses are lukewarm and avoid any chance of controversies. As we do get to hear his “opinions” they are very short and don’t really give any insight on who is as a character. (Except for the whole pancake. I guess? He’s friendless and really likes pancakes.) Therefore, we still see him through the eyes of the general public. We do get to see more information on how he handles public situations but all these things could’ve been inferred from the beginning. 

Mini mention of him - He calls Makoto “weak and easy to force into things” so the player can be certain that he is a fake person. He still speaks in the same polite and usual way he conducts himself on T.V but his words are much more patronizing and with a sense of high worth compared to Makoto. The interaction is less than two minutes and even shorter in-game. 

It isn’t until August or deeper into the story where you learn more about him as a person. Akechi “subtly” stalks the player and shows up more to LaBlanc. It isn’t explicitly said that he shows up more because of the main character however, Sojiro is surprised to see him there. Meaning the Akechi only started showing up when the main character started living/working there. During these interaction with Alechi “subtly” trying to talk to the main character more he reveals

"It seems I'm unwelcome no matter where I go. ...... ...Did I bother you? My apologies. Apparently, my mother was in a relationship with some low-life of a man... She was swiftly discarded when he learned she was pregnant... That despair would lead to her death. Thanks to him, I was passed from foster home to foster home. But, I do quite well by myself these days."

In the anime he is shown to say that in the train station where he adds-

“I would prefer it if you wouldn’t go spreading that around.”

A lot more information given by him during this entire game. Of course if you choose to ditch everyone and solely focus on Akechi then maybe you’ll have more information on his story, however, by how the anime paced it makes it seem you were supposed to learn this later. 

By the mid-semi finale of the story, you can piece together a good half of his character which isn’t saying much as any other character’s lore would be fully complete. He is one of the only characters that fully lore isn’t revealed. 

Then at the Finale of the story it is revealed. Basically everything about his life due his betrayal and later mental breakdown that he has in the palace. It is during these moments where he appears the most unstable, irrational, and impulsive. All traits and behaviors that he had before are either completely gone or turned up to the max. For example, previously, it was shown that he had some mentality that he was better or superior than the others but he had only made passive comments. At the end however, his superiority complex is very apparent with his rants and determination to prove himself better than everyone there (especially the main character and his biological father, who turns out to be the guy who is trying to run for prime minister.)

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! Teammates!? Friends!? To hell with that! Why am I inferior to you...!? I was extremely particular about my life, my grades, my public image, so someone would want me around! I am an ace detective... a celebrity! But you... You're just some criminal trash living in an attic! So how!? How does someone like you have things I don't!? How can such a worthless piece of trash be more special than me!?"

"Don't make me laugh! Justice? Righteous?! Keep that shit to yourselves! You and your teammates piss me off!"

By the end of the story, he ultimately semi-sacrifices himself. All though unnecessary as his death wasn’t something that needed to happen. He felt trapped once he reconsidered his entire life up to that point. No matter what revenge he implicated, he was still used as a pawn by everyone he’s ever known. With that self reflection is when he kills himself. 

The end. 

His character is really interesting as when replaying/watching the series you can see the subtle changes over time and how his true personality was always present, he was just able to bite his tongue and hold back the entire story. 

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

@//kudryavkawafu for the border, thank you!! <3

[auncyen]

Same anon with the mira and bonnie ask, lobed your response but felt weird to just put it in w/o a question so if you don’t mind:

what do you think siffrin’s life was like before joining the party? Could be pre- or post- forgotten island. Idk to me its fascinating bc they were loved in some measure (cloak, jokingly running away bc of veggies) and are p in touch with their culture when they remember it, but at the same time siffrin’s mindset is pretty unhealthy. Like even before looping/during act 2 loops, they seemed unconcerned about serious bodily harm and death that would happen to them + just seems to have. A very strange relationship with people feeling sad instead of happy around them? Idk i just don’t think that’s from just the memory loss.

See I think kid Siffrin was pretty happy. As Isabeau notes whoever gave them the cloak and hat must have really loved them. When Siffrin recounts running away it's in a carefree way--he knew he could give his parents a scare and it'd go down as "just a prank". Basically their home life was really good. There are questions I have about the island's beliefs / values that might be troublesome, but I don't really think that sort of thing grates on a kid with a happy home life too much. (And also as a little note the only glimpse we get into the island's beliefs/values are through Siffrin and King, two individuals who cannot recall those things completely and are very traumatized, so like. Should probably take a grain of salt on how they portray the beliefs anyway.)

Post-island I admittedly read a LOT into how Siffrin finds Vaugarde's openness weird and had kept their hair dyed up until a few months pre-game.

In his experience, other countries are not as welcoming. So I imagine their teenage years were probably pretty lonely. This isn't to say other countries were completely awful--he obviously enjoyed Poteria's plays!--but they were juuust old enough where few would assume just by looking at them "uh, you're on your own, do you need help?" If they stayed long enough in a spot for people to figure out something was wrong it'd invite questions like "where are you from", "where are your parents", basically questions that'd make Siffrin's head hurt and probably lead to them cutting off the interaction if the other person doesn't walk away first because they're put off or alarmed by Siffrin's reactions. Basically, there probably WERE well-meaning attempts to help Siffrin. They backfired because people didn't know what was wrong with Siffrin (Siffrin didn't know what was wrong with Siffrin). Siffrin probably beat himself up for it when he knew the other person was trying to help and he was just too "broken". As a teenager he probably stayed longest in places where adults assumed he was a runaway that didn't want to talk about it and maybe helped him out in a more "hands-off" way--"hey, run this errand for me and I'll give you dinner and a roof for the night". Which, great! Because Siffrin finds a way to get by. But it doesn't deal with any of the emotional issues festering inside.

I also feel like, while this may be a bit dark for the fantasy setting, Siffrin probably got targeted at times for being a young traveler on their own. I mean I also headcanon that Siffrin was very good at escaping dicey situations, partially because they'd start Wish Crafting unconsciously if they were really scared, so they were never seriously harmed. But they weren't good experiences to have!

I also kind of headcanon that pre-canon with not knowing who they are like--they loved plays. But also, like. I can see them at times hurting when they think about plays, how they'd be portrayed in a play. No true name, no past, no home, no relations. At best they're the jester who mocks a King gone wrong and makes the audience laugh. At worst they're a side character killed off-stage in a tragedy, barely important enough to devote two lines to. What kind of play would have a protagonist with zero emotional stake in anything?

They try to be the jester, at least. Sometimes, when he's feeling brave enough. It tends to fizzle pretty quickly. (And then he meets someone who doubles over laughing at a bad pun.)

So yeah I feel like Siffrin pretty much mastered the art of getting by and also as in this post actually being pretty good at fighting pre-canon, but socially well. They can ask directions in at least half a dozen languages but can't be honest about how they're feeling or what's going on with them in a single blinding one. Then they meet a group that's in desperate need of another fighter and 2 of them are Vaugardians who are willing to accept Siffrin's eccentricities as just part of them and not ask questions and Odile's pragmatic enough to not rock the boat unnecessarily. I pretty much do view the group as being the first chance Siffrin remembers getting to bond with people without it going south by them wanting to know their background. Of course he loves them. Of course it doesn't really matter what happens to him, who's going to miss him?? They have homes and families and friends. They're the real heroes. He's just supporting cast.

...So yeah tl;dr pre-island vanishing I think Siffrin's life was just fine. post-island was an incredible amount of loneliness and the Universe putting his brain in a blender and idly hitting the pulse button every so often. This is not even getting into experiencing the physical side of puberty while not knowing who you are or who to ask for help, which, yikes.

[anti-katsuki-lounge]

Saw someone saying that most people in the "bnha critical" hashtag mostly just "suck deku's dick" instead of actually criticizing the story. The same person also had another post basically saying that the reason why midoriya gets treated so poorly by the narrative is because every other character's traits were "erased(?) to make up for midoriya's bland character*" * I don't remember their exact words, but they said something similar to that

Those two posts gave me such a headache that I blocked them immediately

I really hate it when people say this.

I’m going to be honest, as someone who likes Izuku, there’s things you can definitely criticize about Izuku’s character. I think that he’s far too naive in certain situations and doesn’t get called out for it much. Him trying to see good in Overhaul is one of those instances. I think he suffers immensely from selective intelligence. He’s supposed to be great at thinking on his feet yet it takes him very long to realize that he could be throwing more kicks. I also think that as the story progresses, he becomes far less creative with his quirks. You get some rare moments like him using Black Whip from his mouth after being inspired by Tsuyu, but we rarely get these moments of his intelligence anymore. He’s also not allowed to really reflect on his past, so he’s extremely stagnant in regards to his views about things such as his quirkless past and the bullying he’s suffered from Katsuki.

However, Izuku isn’t a bland character. The problem is he has a bad writer. We could’ve seen more of his and Ochako’s relationship. Unlike many other relationships, the two are built around the idea that they constantly have each other’s backs. I wanna see more of this. I wanna see more of them bonding. Maybe Ochako asks Izuku for some hand to hand combat training. Maybe Izuku learns more about Ochako’s life/ her hobbies and tries to plan things for them to do that they both enjoy. Maybe they can have a heart to heart about constantly being underestimated and being a part of a group that is looked down upon (Ochako being poor and Izuku being quirkless). With Tenya, maybe the two can study together. Tenya’s great at retaining information but Izuku’s better at being creative, so they can help each other there. They could talk about their feelings of anger and how they feel they have a large legacy to uphold. With Shoto, we can have Izuku and him explore what a normal healthy friendship is like. We can have them confide in each other about the abuse they’ve been through and about their relationships with their moms. These are things that could easily be explored with a character like Izuku and Hori has set up the building blocks of Izuku’s character that allows for these things to be explored. The problem is that Hori doesn’t do any of this. We’re expected to believe that the DekuSquad are close knit with each other, but we don’t see them interacting in anything that isn’t related to heroics. We don’t see much of Izuku’s creativity anymore. He has numerous quirks, but even if some overlap with the others, there are cool combos a hero nerd like him could come up with, but instead Hori would rather have him do the exact same things over and over again. The way Hori writes Katsuki also hurts Izuku’s character. Outside of the first chapter, Izuku’s never allowed to show anything other than fear and admiration for Katsuki. He’s never allowed to be unique or else he’ll utterly surpass Katsuki in something (Katsuki’s latest B.S power up is an example of this). He’s not allowed to reflect on Katsuki’s bullying and the effect it has on him nor is he able to hang out with anyone without Katsuki being nearby or involved.

Long rant, I know, but the point is that while there’s certainly things you can criticize about Izuku’s character, most of the issues with Izuku doesn’t come from being a bad character but from being written by a bad writer who prioritizes other things over developing his MC

[desmon1995]

The Oni Sisters - duality of Ajax and Swan

The Red and Blue Oni trope probably one of the oldest storytelling devices within fiction.

It describes two individuals that are similar yet contrasting in various different ways and it's typically displayed through how they approach a given situation.

The blue one it's calm, collected, and typically tries to think their way through things while the red one is more passionate, brash, and typically speaks with their fists as opposed to talking things out.

This dichotomy perfectly describes the relationship between Ajax and Swan throughout most Warriors media, in the original film they're sort of rivals.

Film Ajax is basically toxic masculinity given human form and is a man that desires power and find Swan unworthy of being Cleon's successor.

On top of the homophobia and sexist behavior he displays throughout the film, he also tries to one-up Swan every chance he gets until he eventually gets got by a undercover cop.

Swan is mostly a nonsense type but can be just as gnarly as the rest of the Warriors and is pretty sexist himself towards Mercy until he decides that he likes her.

Film Swan is meant to be a man's man kind of like a prototype of what we would see with a lot of action movie heroes from the '80s.

I think what's really interesting is that within the concept album female versions of Ajax and Swan do you have a bit of a rivalry but are largely on good terms with each other.

I feel like if this were in the hands of lesser creators and probably made a decade earlier Swan would be used to show everything that Ajax isn't and would be the audience and Ajax herself over the head with the reality of how society prefers more feminine and eurocentric beauty standards.

Instead, even though Ajax is somewhat dismissive of Swan's early decisions and vice versa the two understand one another and allow themselves to express how they feel without butting heads repeatedly.

We see that the ultimately want the same thing which is to protect their family from harm and even sometimes resorts to using each other's tactics.

Ajax complies with swans decision to flee even though she constantly say she hates running.

Swan also isn't afraid to retaliate against people who threatened her and the rest of the Warriors ( she even says this during her Cypher).

They clearly respect each other's it opinions and we never really see Swan try to assert her position over Ajax during The Park at Night Number.

Ajax even after she realizes that Barnes is a dirty cop and not just a pervert tells her sisters to run away instead of helping her ( again showing how receptive she is to Swan's initial idea and going against her usual brawler mentality).

Swan herself is quite subversive because despite seeming calm she's pretty broken on the inside and has a low opinion of herself.

I do think she starts to let some of those feelings out thanks to her interactions with Mercy and we see them fully during The Same Train Home where she goes to comfort Mercy by kissing her to calm her nerves about the judgmental rich people gawking at her.

I'm probably just being a sappy millennial, but I think it's nice that we can have these two characters just exist alongside each other comfortably without conservative / neoliberal type writers trying to put down the more masculine Ajax and simultaneously reducing someone like Swan to just a pretty face.

[dhs-in-distress]

Finally posting this damn OC-canon-interaction post (for Scatters and the main five bots currently)

(Don‘t wanna seem desperate or guilt people into doing it, just wanna say that if anyone wants to suggest characters (or situations) for the interaction thing I‘d love that cause I love thinking about how two characters would talk to/ feel about one another or how they‘d interact given a specific situation or how it would progress given enough time.)

Anyway, Team Prime under the cut,,

Optimus: Best way to describe it would probably be „exasperation“. OP already has a whole unruly team to deal with, and then this asshole stalks them for weeks, falls through the roof, on the brink of an exhaustion-induced „coma“. He can‘t not take him in, that would go against everything he personally stands for, but he sure doesn’t like the alternative either. Scatter disrupts the workflow, is hard to talk to and negotiate with, hardly takes orders; and if he does he almost never takes them seriously enough, harasses everyone and is more of a disturbance than any help if OP does try to take him on missions. He does however notice that he makes a great babysitter for Sari, and basically permanently assigns him as such whenever the others go anywhere even remotely dangerous. Additionally Scatters knows much more about Earth than all of the others combined and has a much deeper understanding than Sari (because she‘s like 8), so OP sometimes makes him do basic intel and scouting as well, but doesn‘t really trust him beyond that.

Going into Scatters‘ perspective on the whole thing (and ignoring the work stuff since that‘s largely the same), he mostly views OP as a complete pushover, but with potential. He very much avoids him, only talks to him if absolutely necessary and exclusively refers to him as „Prime“ in hopes of distancing himself from anyone by the Prime title out of sheer spite and principle. Deep down he does want OP to succeed though, can‘t help but feel sympathetic towards his whole… situation. He can somewhat relate, also having his life „screwed over“ by Sentinel, but thinks that OP‘s still „saveable“ from… everything pretty much. He can still turns this around, has the capacity to change something, maybe everything, for the better. For the most part though he‘s just a kid to Scatters, and a pushover, like wow.

Bumblebee: They don‘t have the greatest start, with Bee immediately assuming Scatters is a Decepticon and deeply offending him in the process, but quickly grows to view him as „Prowl if he was downright mean instead of just standoffish“. He doesn‘t really get Scatters‘ deal, but spends time with him by proxy because of Bulkhead, who Scatters typically hangs around if he‘s not off alone doing shady stuff. At some point Scatters let‘s it slip that he‘s not only privy to Earth knowledge in general, but also knows a fuck ton of media, including video games and action movies. This opens up their relationship a bit, because while Scatters still isn‘t too nice about it, he does share all the good websites to pirate stuff and even recommends a few things Bee ends up enjoying a considerable amount. In the end Bee doesn‘t find Scatters to be all too bad, he‘s easy to tick off and not too talkative, but is the one „older“ person on the team who gets and „supports“ his interests.

On the flip side, Scatters finds Bee to be incredibly grating. He‘s loud and bold and expressive and happy, and Scatters is a bit resentful about the free self expression and joy, since he himself is still on the „not allowed to feel happiness because the love of my life is dead and I shouldn‘t disgrace him like this“ train. And while it might come across as bonding or kind of him to take an interest in Bee‘s hobbies, Scatters mostly recommends these games and movies and sites because he knows it will annoy the rest of the team way more than him (because they live here and he does so only when necessary).

Ratchet: Being somewhat similar in both background and temper, these two do not like one another, and are often downright hostile if they‘re ever forced to talk, which is more often than one might think. Scatters downright refuses most medical treatment, especially if it‘s from Ratchet, and the whole „not taking orders seriously, if he doesn‘t refuse them altogether“ thing annoys Ratchet a lot more than it does OP (he‘s mostly just tired, and has more important shit to deal with anyway). And yeah, they‘re always at each others‘ throats, both figuratively and literally, arguing over every little thing even if it doesn’t matter at all, and by the time someone (Bulkhead usually, he‘s the only one both physically and emotionally capable to get them apart and to both calm down) ends the fight it‘s not even clear anymore why it started in the first place. Part of it is also that Scatters reminds Ratchet a little of himself (obviously), he sees all of his worst qualities in that guy, and wonders to himself „oh no am I this fragging irritating??!“ sometimes. The good side is that it makes him a LITTLE (a LITTLE ok, a tiny bit) more conscious about his way of dealing with these issues (that being… not dealing with the PTSD at all and just hoping it goes away) and that maybe there are ways to get them under control.

Same shit different diaper with Scatters‘ perspective. He sees himself in Ratchet, but in contrast to how Ratchet sees himself in him, Scatters almost feels like Ratchet is a better version of himself (gross oversimplification but if I got into all of that this post would need another month to be done and I want to get this out this week god damn it). Ratchet is great at his job, has people who care about him and who he (sometimes) openly cares about back, he pushes through his flashbacks and still manages to be relatively well adjusted and normal through all of it. Scatters could hardly function in his daily life ever since Trailbreaker died, had a terrible job, one friend who he refused to call such and continues to push people away even now, completely consumed by grief, guilt and anger. Deep down he admires Ratchet for still managing to be semi-personable with him in spite of all he‘s gone through, and he hates this whole situation and Ratchet all the more for it.

(There would definitely be some strong development in the relationship between these two, but that would, as we in Germany say, den Rahmen sprengen.)

Prowl: Scatters continuously and deliberately takes up the best spots for „lurking in the shadows unnoticed“ and Prowl is not a fan, but with how calm and collected he is there‘s hardly any real conflict between the two. All things considered, he‘s mildly irritated at times, throws in a sarcastic remark occasionally if he feels the offence is particularly noteworthy or bad, but largely stays out of the way and doesn‘t get bothered as a result. He even finds the similar fondness of dark and/or quiet places they have to be somewhat endearing. (I have a whole situation/scene for that dark/quiet places thing don‘t even get me started,,,, That (positive) interaction they have in my head is everything,,,,,,,,,,,,)

Scatters appreciates Prowl; for not constantly bothering him, for being the quietest of the bunch, for accidentally showing him all of the best places to quietly lurk in the shadows and spy on the team, all around really. Can‘t help but find his stoicism and coolheaded nature a little admirable, but he‘d probably never get to that point of self-restraint… He treats Earth, the flora and fauna alike kindly and with respect, and Scatters has been there for 50 years alright, he‘s gotten a little attached to the place, and seeing someone have this kind of deep love for, and fascination with it deeply moves something in him. Plus, his snide remarks can be very amusing, so amusing fact that even if Scatters takes deep offence to them at times he still can‘t be too mad.

Bulkhead: To him Scatters is simply… very odd. Not in a necessarily negative way, but not in a necessarily positive one either… He hates the constant disrespect towards OP and Ratchet, but is grateful for the contrasting support for Bee, (even though it doesn‘t feel 100% genuine for some reason…) the kindness towards Sari and the respect for Prowl. OP is his boss and he really does value him a lot, but Bee, Sari and Prowl are his besties damn it, the way they‘re treated has to count equally! And Scatters does act similarly around him. He appreciates the art, and the process often equally as much as the final product (if not more so), defends him (on occasion, and it usually results in a fight…) and encourages him to stand by both his creativity and intelligence. Though he is often aggressive and even mean about it, which shouldn’t even be possible, but Bulkhead finds that he appreciates the gesture for what it is and for what it‘s intended to be.

Scatters low key adores Bulkhead (can you tell I‘m protecting???). He‘s extremely kind and gentle, has the same love for Earth that Prowl (and in a way Bee) do, and is quite clever if the others let him. A part of him pushes back against Bulkhead’s welcoming nature, tries to deflect and tells himself that he isn’t allowed to have this and that he has other things to be focused on, but it‘s hard, and ultimately falls flat when he accepts that he desperately wants to see Bulkhead succeed, both at this mission and as a person. His creativity and general love of the arts only serves to endear Scatters more, because he too is very, very fond of these things and Earth‘s many cultures and ways to express oneself. He enjoys watching Bulkhead‘s process, at first from afar, but gradually just sits with or somewhere near him to bask in the… sauce, so to speak.

I do also have thoughts on how sparring between each of them would go, but I‘m tired ok. Not in this post.

Ok, that‘s enough for now, I hope I got the basics about how these guys feel about each other down well enough. Jailbreak‘s definitely getting her own version of this with the main 5 cons, but until then… this is what I have.

[doop-doop2]

For the fanfic ask I don't have any specific questions though I have often wondered do you pick pairings just from randomly thinking of them or do you see other peoples art for them or ect.? You've introduced me to many new ones 🤣

I'm going to talk about fe3h specifically since that's the fandom I've been the most involved in and written the most different pairings for.

This got pretty long so I'm putting it under the cut.

I'm inspired by the relationship in canon (support conversations, paired endings etc). Examples: Dimidue, Lornatz. <- I really like both of these support chains and they inspired me to write fics for the pairings. I think this is how most people get into ships honestly? I see their interactions, think their vibe is great in canon and find myself thinking "That's nice, now I want to see them kiss"

I'm inspired by other fanworks or by people I follow getting into the ship. Sylnatz is the biggest example of this. Sometime in 2022 I became mutuals with @manicsquare on twitter and her deep love of them made me fall in love with me too. (Tbh my first reaction to that ship was "How the hell would that even work?", followed by "Hmm.... maybe I can see the possibilities" after I pondered them for a while. I think the strangeness of it, the way it shouldn't work, is one of the things that's made me want to write it so much.)

Nothing external inspires me - I come up with the ship on my own. Honestly most of my fics are like this, especially the one-offs. I like throwing two characters together to see if I can imagine how they might fall in love (or what it might be like if they slept together, at least). It feels like a little challenge for myself sometimes. Could I make this work? What would have to happen to lead to them getting together in a convincing, natural-feeling way, without writing either of them too terribly out of character? Often it's just two characters I like - or at least like writing - with little or no other reason there besides it being an interesting thought experiment. Some examples: Raphael/Jeritza, Felix/Linhardt, Felix/Jeritza (Jeritza is very fun to write and Felix is my go-to straight man (in the comedy trope sense of the term), so to me this pairing in particular was a blast) Also in my head, never started, is the bare bones of a Marianne/Balthus fic in which he's more or less her sugar baby lmao. Which actually brings me to the rare 4th answer,

I think of a situation or trope I want to write, and then choose which characters fit it best. Like the idea mentioned above, where I was like "Who might hire Balthus as a sugar baby?" And at first I was like, well, what if it was Lorenz? But then I decided it might be more fun with Marianne. (Unfortunately I don't think I'm ever going to write this one, so if anyone wants to write this fic please be my guest 😆) Sometimes I just really want to write a trope, whether it's vampires or "But there's only one bed!" or what have you, and I just sort of go through all the possible characters/ships that might work for it until I find ones that fit the vibe I want the story to have. Another example - I have another unwritten idea in my head, a pop star AU, that started as Ignatz/Lorenz and now, if it'll ever be written (which is unlikely) it will be Ignatz/Sylvain or OC / OC (ie I'll turn it into original fiction instead of fanfiction). The vibe of Lornatz is totally different from Sylnatz, which would make the feel of the story very different, but the actual setup would be the same. Years before writing my most recent vampire story, which was Sylnatz (with Ignatz as the vamp), I wrote a few thousand words (never published) of a fic in which Lorenz was the vampire and Ignatz the random human who stumbles across him. Basically I just like writing vampires and always knew I wanted to do a 3h vampire fic, but I wasn't sure which ship or who should play what role.

So uhh...hopefully that answers your question, because that ended up being a lot of words!

Thanks so much for the ask <3

[geekgirles]

Unhappy Campers: an Honest Review

I’ve been impatiently waiting for this episode all day. I even spent the last two hours before it premiered constantly refreshing YouTube to see if it had already dropped, so it’s fair to say I was very excited for this episode thanks to the sneak peeks we’ve been getting over the months. On the one hand, because it promised to introduce Barbie Wire into the show at last, and on the other hand, because it promised more Millie screentime as well. 

And while it definitely delivered on both things, I can’t help but feel Unhappy Campers is actually one of the weakest episodes of the show. Or at least of season 2. 

My main problem with the episode is that the conflict feels rather forced to me. Not the Blitzo/Barbie Wire conflict, since at this point Blitzo’s sister hating him despite how much he seems to genuinely love her and care for her is pretty much on brand with this show and his character, but the M&M conflict.

It just feels like it comes completely out of nowhere, you know? Like it just doesn’t add up with the rest of the show. At least, compared to Moxxie and Millie’s characters and interactions in every other episode. 

You could say my main problem is that what goes down during the episode would work if this were a separate episode, completely unrelated to the rest of the season, sort of like Queen Bee. But the thing is, it’s not supposed to be its own thing, it’s supposed to be connected to the rest of the story, so it ends up feeling very incoherent with what we’ve been seeing so far. 

It’s obvious from the very beginning that Moxxie is going through an Acquired Situational Narcissism moment as a result of this being his first case where he gets to lead, meaning he expects everything to go his way just because he gets to be in charge. Everything Moxxie does in this episode is a desperate attempt to reflect how important he is feeling at the moment, instead of taking the best, most practical course of action. 

That is to say, listening to Millie and take care of the murderous teenager who’s clearly very bad at keeping a low profile.

This goes from his Moxxine persona, a typical Alpha Bitch type who would have everyone wrapped around her finger...

...to trying very hard to win everyone at camp...

...especially by presenting himself as better than everyone else in order to become popular.

Only to fail miserably because these kids for once aren’t your stereotypical sheep looking for a mean-spirited leader to follow. No, they aren’t impressed by a fake attitude coupled with a presumptuous confidence and thinly masked condescension, but by actual talent and charisma. 

And who happens to have that? 

Millie, or Millerd, in this case. 

So while Moxxie’s trying desperately to get these kids to like him and become popular, Millie is achieving just that effortlessly, while making her husband increasingly envious of her popularity at the same time. 

Now, this in itself isn’t a bad premise. Most shows have at least one instance where one of the main characters is more well-liked than the other, who becomes frightenly jealous and petty as a result. In fact, this would work if it had happened between Blitzo and Moxxie, for example. 

But it’s the fact that Moxxie is feeling jealous of Millie, his wife, that to me this sort of feels like it comes out of left field. 

Basically because so far Moxxie and Millie’s marriage has been nothing but perfectly harmonious and equally loving and supportive. Moxxie has always been Millie’s #1 fan and supporter, so I find it a bit hard to believe the same guy who stood up to his intimidating in-laws because they were unfairly reprimanding his wife for a mistake on their part would now grow jealous and petty over others appreciating her many talents. 

No matter where you look at it, this is just entirely out of character of Moxxie. Not only because he would never be so resentful of the love of his life, but because Moxxie just isn’t this self-centred. Even when he was struggling to keep up with Striker in The Harvest Moon Festival, it was only because Striker and Millie’s family kept looking down on him and he wanted to prove himself. It was never a matter of stroking his own ego. 

And then, there’s Millie’s side on the matter. 

As I said, it’s great that we had some more Millie screentime and that she expressed needs and wants of her own for once, but the problem is, I personally feel like they come out of nowhere and fail to properly connect with anything that’s already been established. 

Millie says she feels like she’s important and someone to be proud of for once, which hints at some deeper insecurities that are worth being explored. Unfortunately, these insecurities are being introduced now, after a season and a half, so there isn’t really much that would make us understand her outburst here. In my opinion, it almost feels as if Millie’s character has been so perfectly content with her life overall, never showing signs of having any kind of issue of her own, that now that they need some drama, the writers just have no idea what to do with her in order to achive that. It’s like they’re now adding toppings on an already cooked pizza, if you know what I mean.

And the funny part is, this is actualy easily salvageable! 

Literally all it would take to make this more coherent and better woven with the rest of story would be to link Millie’s outburst to her family life. No need to suddenly turn Joe and Lynn into abusive parents, because we have enough of that already, but they could have played with what they already had. 

While the episode itself didn’t dwell on it, as it was a Moxxie episode, Millie’s interactions with her parents and Sallie May hint at some sort of favouritism towards the latter because she is a better assassin--in the sense that Sallie May at least doesn’t seem to get carried away with her killing and is smart enough to hide the bodies of her victims. Also, in their parents’ eyes, her life in the farm is more stable than Millie’s job as a free-lance, which they don’t even understand how it works.

 Joe and Lynn are very set on their ways regarding how people should be killed: with your bare hands or using melee weapons, you can’t be sloppy and let your guard down, be smart about it... Qualities Millie doesn’t follow one way or another: her husband isn’t physically strong and prefers guns, she lets her emotions get in the way and hinder her kills, she forgot to cover up nine deaths in the last Pain Games she participated in...

Really, all it would have taken to fix her feelings on the matter coming practically out of nowhere would have been a little mention to her home life and how she feels she never measured up to her parents’ expectations of her and now she’s finally being validated for being who she is. 

Instead, we’re left with an episode whose premise only makes sense as a stand-alone or with a different set of characters and where the only cohesive thing is another person from Blitzo’s past hating his guts. 

Anyway, this is just my opinion and everyone is entitled to their own. I don’t know if I’m alone on this one. Thanks for taking the time to read this nonetheless.

[kysoncat]

ES Journeys Rival Cast: Trace the Shinx

Hey y'all, been a while. So as you know I finished talking about all of the main cast for my ES AU, ES Journeys. If you haven't seen any of their posts then here are the links to Speed, Crystal, Flare, Sunshine, Pearl, Leaf, Lazuli, Black, Silvia, and Axel and if you don't know what ES Journeys is here's the post that talks about what it is. Since I finished talking about the main characters of the AU, I think the next thing to talk about are the rival characters.

What are rival characters in ES Journeys? Rival characters are characters that are basically personal opponents to someone on the Eeveelution Squad and the two try to show who's stronger by the end. Rival characters are on rival teams against the Eeveelution Squad.

With all of that explained and out of the way, it's time to talk about Speed's friend and one of the only non-Eeveelution characters, Trace.

(Note: Not everything is fully fleshed out. These are just the main ideas I have and am currently trying to flesh out)

Trace Trace is a pretty well known side character in the comic for various reasons. He's know for being one of the few side character that isn't an Eeveelutions, being a simp as a Shinx, being Speed's first friend and was a Rescuer with him, being shipped with Crystal even though they only interacted once, and the son of Dr. Robert.

Trace's character was pretty interesting and personally I liked him however that doesn't mean I didn't have issues with him. An example is Trace saying he didn't want to become a scientist like his dad but by the end of the comic he's a scientist because SaVe ThE wOrLd from the virus BS. I hated that. Oh and just like with the rest of the side characters who aren't Eeveelutions, he didn't get a lot of focus even though he got the most out of all of them. I plan on giving him and other side characters justice in ES Journeys.

Personality Trace's personality is more less the same as the comic's. He's a nice guy who can be a bit silly at times but can get annoyed and be rude. Trace is a bit competitive with others like with Speed and Spike but it's always in a friendly manner. As a Shinx he was a bit immature as he becomes a bit of a rusher and gets a bit impatient at times but as he grew and evolved he matured.

Trace is very smart as he had some of the highest grades in school and was forced to take extra curricular classes as well as go with his dad to research meetings often. Because of all of that, Trace knows a lot about science and Pokemon.

When it comes to battling, Trace likes it. As the team captain of his team, team Rising Stars, Trace has pretty good leadership skills as he open with listening to others and tries to help them out as much as he can. He develops strategies for battle using his well versed knowledge on Pokemon and science.

As the son of Professor Robert, Trace has a bit of popularity but not the kind that he wants. He didn't like it when other Pokemon recognized him as just being the son of the world's greatest researcher and would become upset whenever someone mentions the fact that he is his son. This bothers him so much that when a girl he fell for mentions this fact, he quickly becomes disinterested. Trace has no bad feelings towards his dad but he wants to be able to stand out on his own and be out of his father's shadow which is why he chose to go against what his father wanted him to be which was becoming a professor and instead do competitive battling. He is determined to carve out his own legacy with his own abilities in competitive battling.

Trace can be empathetic with others who are going through a similar situation as him when it comes standing out. He understands what it's like to be not recognized for yourself and what you're capable of so he offers to help those going through a similar thing like with Spike and Hydra.

Trace used to fall for girls easily as a Shinx and attempts at flirting with them but as he grew and evolved he stopped doing that.

Moves, Ability, and Battle Style Trace is weaker in ES Journeys than in the comic because he doesn't have any stupid ES technology like those armor suits and other junk. He has a basic battle style consisting of a mix of ranged and physical moves.

Trace has a wide array of Electric-Type moves as well as other Type moves. His movelist and when they're learned: -Thundershock (TB) -Tackle (TB) -Bite (TB) -Quick Attack (TB) -Swift (OI) -Discharge (GS) -Thunder Wave (GS) -Double Kick (GS) -Take Down (GS) -Wild Charge (DP) -Agility (BW) -Thunder Fang (BW) -Electro Ball (BW) -Thunder (MJ) -Electric Terrain (MJ)

Trace's ability is Rivalry. This ability increases his strength when he faces someone he really wants to beat like Speed.

Trace's Backstory Trace hatched on March 24, 2000 and he was raised by just his dad, Robert. He lived in Sunny Town of the Kanto region.

During Trace's early childhood, Robert did his best as a single father raising him however being a professor made it a bit difficult for him. Since Robert couldn't leave Trace alone at home he would take him to his lab but leave him in his office where someone would look after him while he attended to his research with him checking on him every so often. Trace meets Robert's best friend, Nemo who often checks up on him in the lab and visits his home. Whenever Robert has to leave town to attend a research event, Nemo would stay behind to look after him and the two got along well.

In April of 2003, Trace attended school for the first time. During his time in school, Trace was pretty popular because everyone knew he was the son of Professor Robert and he enjoyed the attention. A few months later, as Trace was walking back from school he runs into Spike who came from Sinnoh to visit Shade and his family. When he saw him, he saw that Spike was really angry and asked if he was okay to which he snapped at him which Trace didn't take so well. He snapped back at him and eventually the two got into an argument. Spike asks him who he even is to which Trace brags about being known by everyone in town as the son of Professor Robert. Spike in response to what he said laughs and mocks him as he tells him his popularity comes from his relationship with his dad and not himself and that without him then he would be nobody. Trace didn't believe him and ran off. The next day in school when Trace was getting attention, he noticed how everyone who's interacted with him never call him by his name and if they did they would always bring up his father immediately afterwards and this started to bother him.

Ever since that argument with Spike, Trace began to hate the attention he was getting and whenever the two meet in Sunny Town, Spike would always mock him. Trace would try to tell his dad about how he felt but he was usually too busy with his research to listen so he ends up telling Nemo. Trace thought of what he could do to make himself stand out and he thought of becoming a Rescuer but was afraid of what his father would say about that as he wanted him to become a researcher like him, Nemo, and his late mom.

A few years go by and during it, Robert had Trace help him with some simple research tasks like collecting certain stones and such. During that time, Trace still hasn't told his father about wanting to become a Rescuer but on one day in 2006, he mustered the courage to tell him while he was home. When he told him, it didn't go well as Robert didn't allow him to become one since he said it was dangerous and said he will become a researcher which made Trace frustrated as he storms out the house.

Trace wandered around Sunny Town trying to cool off but was too frustrated about his dad not letting him be what he wants to be. He was so mad that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and accidentally bumped into Speed who was an Eevee at the time. He apologized to the Eevee and after looking at him, he tried flirting with him not being aware that he's a male. After Speed tells him he isn't a girl and says he hopes he doesn't see him again, he makes his way back to the orphanage but Trace followed him as he apologized for his early flirt attempt and trying to make conversation with him. Trace thought Speed was cool and said they should hang out the next day so he can show him around town. He told him where to meet up and leaves before Speed said anything.

The next day, Trace was waiting at the spot he told Speed to meet him at and was worried if he'd actually come or not but his worries are put to rest when Speed arrives. The two left the meet up spot and there was awkward silence between them so Trace tries to make conversation with him again which he manage to get for a bit. Trace showed Speed around town since he's never explored it so he took him to some of the popular spots like the stores and restaurant. The two had some fun moments like making each other wear dresses or eating at an restaurant where Trace paid for their meal. During that time, Trace asked him if Speed had any friends to which he said he didn't and when he asked him if he considers him a friend, Speed said he doesn't as he doesn't trust him. After eating at the restaurant, the two continued exploring town but with awkward silence between them again. That silence is broken when they hear a commotion happening to which they go where it was coming from. When they got to where the commotion was they saw Shade bullying some of the townsfolk and Speed was about to go and confront him but Trace stopped him as he informed him who he was and told him it was best to avoid him. Speed didn't listen and went up to him but that resulted in him getting beat up by him. Trace watched as Shade beats Speed up and not wanting to watch anymore of this, he told him to stop to which Shade ignored him and tried hitting the Eevee again only for Trace to retaliate by tackling him. Shade didn't like that Trace tackled him and defended Speed so as a result he beats both of them up badly and when they couldn't move anymore, he walks away leaving the two lying down next to each other. Speed thanked Trace for trying to protect him and asked if they can be friends to which he accepted. After that day, the two would hangout a lot to which Robert asks Trace where he's been recently to which he tells him that he's been hanging out with a friend so Robert said he'd like to meet him.

A few days later, Trace introduces Speed to Robert and the two got along pretty well. Robert asked if he wanted to become research fellow for him to which he accepted and so the two were sent on simple task mission for Robert's research like collecting certain stones and other stuff. One day while the two were one a mission, Speed fell into a lake and since he didn't know how to swim, Trace saved him.

A few years go by and during it, Trace had some good and bad moments. Speed and Trace continued to hangout and do more research tasks together. Whenever Trace and Spike run into each other in town, Spike would always mock him much to his dismay. At some point, Trace meets Speed's siblings when he visited the orphanage he lived in and there he gains a crush on Speed's sister, Crystal.

In 2010, when Trace had to go with his dad to another meeting in a city, Speed asked him to ask the city police about his parents to which he does. When he returns to town and meets up with Speed, he breaks the news that his parents are dead. A couple months later before Trace left town again for another meeting with his dad, he saw Speed was upset after seeing some of the townsfolk, specifically children with their parents and tried cheering him up which worked for only a moment. When he was in the city, he decided to go to the police station and ask them about Speed's parents again and learned the two Eeveelutions there were both male. When he got back to Sunny Town, he immediately went looking for Speed and when he found him, he told him this newfound info to which Speed thanks him.

On January, 2012, Trace graduated from school. Even though Trace wanted to become a Rescuer, his father wouldn't let him so he was stuck taking lessons from him every day at some point in the day. Trace didn't like it at all but had to put up with it until in 2014 he saw on the TV a competitive battle happening which made him want to become a competitive battler now. He told his father about this and at first, Robert refused to let him become one but he eventually decided to let him become one under the condition that if he loses in the Regional Conference then he has to give up on competitive battling and become a professor to which he agrees with the conditions.

A few days later, Trace needed to find Pokemon to join his team so he first asked Speed if he wanted to join but to his surprise, he was already on a team with his siblings. While he was a bit upset his friend couldn't become his teammates, he made himself smile by jokingly say that they're rivals now to which Speed humors him. Trace continued trying to find Pokemon that would join his team however most Pokemon either turned him down or say he should become a professor like his dad which hurt him however he does manage to find two Pokemon to join his team. The two Pokemon that joined his team are Gus and Ali. After they joined his team, Trace filled out the paperwork to create a competitive battling team which he calls the "Rising Stars". After submitting the paperwork, a few days later a letter was given to Trace where inside was a form that said that their team is now officially approved and created.

On March 31, Trace along with Gus and Ali left Sunny Town to begin their journey as a competitive battling team.

Trace's Journey In The Beginning, Trace and his team are a rival team to the Eeveelution Squad. Trace and his team would meet up with the Eeveelution Squad throughout their journey in Kanto. While Trace likes Crystal, at some point he blows up at her because she kept tying him to his dad and tells her about why he's a competitive battle.

In Gold and Silver, Trace who has evolved into a Luxio is again a rival with his team to the Eeveelution Squad. During their Johto journey, Trace is so focused on winning and getting stronger because of the deal he made with his dad which causes him to be a bit obsessed. He learns to get over this obsession and to appreciate the journey itself with his teammates. At some point he invites Turbo onto the team (Haven't came up with why yet, still working on it). In the Silver Conference, Speed and Trace actually get to battle each other and he lost.

In Side Stories, after returning from the Silver Conference, Trace was about to give up on competitive battling because of the deal he made with his dad but his teammates convinced him not to and he stood up to his dad. After battling his dad, he lets him be a competitive battler since he saw it was his passion. By the end of the story, Trace evolves into a Luxray.

In Diamond and Pearl, Trace along the rest of his team arrive in Sinnoh to compete in the Sinnoh League. Trace and his team are rivals to the Eeveelution Squad again as well as to Shade's team, the Disaster Bringers. During the Sinnoh journey, Trace and his team run into Spike who he and him would end up fighting. After some fighting and Trace learning a bit about Spike's issues, he invites him on the team and while he accepted, the two would often bicker and fight with each other to the point where they would at one point get into a serious fight. Trace does manage to get Spike to respect him after he sees how much he cares about him and say he's better than Shade even if he loses.

In Black & White, Trace along with the rest of his team are rivals once again to the Eeveelution Squad in Unova. During their Unova journey, Trace lets Hydra join their team. The Eeveelution Squad and Rising Stars have a fierce rivalry with each other trying to see which team is the better one before the Vertress Conference.

In XY, once again Trace and his team are rivals to the Eeveelution Squad in Kalos. During their Kalos journey, Trace along with Spike get a Mega Stone and train to learn how to use Mega Evolution (I know Luxray doesn't have a Mega Evolution but for ES Journeys every Pokemon has a Mega Evolved form).

In Master Journeys, Trace and his team are one of several teams the Eeveelution Squad faced in the past that they would face in the World Championship Series. They battle with the Eeveelution Squad in the Ultra Class.

And that's all I have to say about Trace the Shinx in ES Journeys. Again there's some minor stuff I didn't mention but might be said in another post. Anyway hope you guys liked this info dump on him. So how was the first post on a rival character of ES Journeys? Did you like what I did with him or no? Let me know in comments and let me know who else would you like to hear about for ES Journeys. Until then, have a good day everyone. See ya.

[mymistakewriting]

Dynamic Conversations - Bobby & Owen

Once again prompted by @happilylovingchaos , this is a dynamic that I do have some thoughts on despite the fact that they've never met. However, just because these two haven't met doesn't mean I don't have plenty to say about the two of them.

First and foremost, as usual, please don't take anything I say in this post as me bashing on a character. I have complicated opinions on the characters, yes, but I've formed those thoughts and opinions based off watching and rewatching and taking notes. If you don't agree with my thoughts, great! You don't have to interact with my posts if you plan to try to pick a fight over it. And finally, equally important: this post comes with content warnings. Please head them and tread carefully. Your mental health matters far more to me than my content being consumed.

Trigger Warnings: mentions of addiction, child neglect. Basically, if anything Bobby or Owen has ever said or done sits with you weird, maybe skip this post.

First, the question posed to me: if they were to meet, how would they handle the differences in how they identify and resolve crisis situations? The short answer? I think they'd split the response up so that they handle it easier with as little conflict as possible. It's shown several times that Owen works well as a pair with another Captain thanks to the divide the 126 has with there being a Fire Captain and a Paramedic Captain. And Bobby already lets his team make calls that go against his orders if they can back up their reasoning after the emergency is handled. They'd make a damn good team on any emergency call thanks to that, especially if it was a interstate emergency.

And now for the rest of my thoughts about these two.

First of all, just based on timeline alone? There's every chance that Bobby met and acted as a support for TK when Gwyn put him on a plane and sent him to LA for rehab back in 2017. Bobby was already in LA (he lost his family in 2014), and he's definitely the kind of person (confirmed in-show) to volunteer at rehabs and outpatient care as a mentor, as someone who's been there and can offer insight as to what recovery might look like instead of all of it being on nurses and doctors who haven't personally experienced recovery from alcohol or drugs.

Second, I think Bobby followed up with Owen over a call after the wildfires because his three gremlins came back with stories to share. Of course he's going to want to know what happened and he would definitely call Austin's fire department to get patched through to Owen for that. Especially when one of the firefighters he sent was Buck.

Third, and this is going to be the one that I think people will fight me on: Owen's the better captain, Bobby's the better father. And I can explain EXACTLY why I think that.

Owen and Bobby have similar Captaincy styles where they step back and let their teams take the reigns sometimes based off who has more experience with certain calls - except Bobby doesn't do that with all of his team, he still isolates Buck because "he's not ready" even on calls that Buck's knowledge base would work well on. Buck runs a single emergency call, and it's only because him and Ravi are the only two still standing. Owen doesn't hold his son back the same way, encouraging him to not only switch from firefighter under his care to paramedic under Tommy's care, but lets him make calls on the field that Bobby would never have allowed Buck to make (the minefield call in Lone Star? Yeah, that's the one I'm talking about here.)

Bobby, despite not being Buck's actual father, still treats him like his kid. He fusses, they spend time together outside of work, they talk about things unrelated to work or anything professional. Bobby's by his side every time he's in a hospital bed. Plus if May or Harry are in trouble? Papa bear Bobby mode activates. Those are his kids and he'd do anything and everything to protect them. Owen..... well, Owen tries. But between "I'm going to be a dad" said to his own son, abandoning TK for his job when TK was 7, and all of the times he's put him in danger? Y eah, Bobby's the better dad. Sorry. I love Owen, but he's a terrible father. Great father-in-law, though.

Over all, I think Bobby and Owen would have a great dynamic if they interacted. They'd work well together in a crisis, they'd probably get in trouble together outside of one similar to how Bobby and Michael got in trouble together. But they only work because they have that difference to them - one being a better leader and one being a better nurturer. It's not necessarily a bad thing that they have that difference considering the team set ups are wildly different and work with their individual styles.

any further questions are welcome!

[silverstormsxx]

Amore!Happstablook (Or simply Amore) - My Out!Code OC

They're a Happstablook from an Underswap copy who phased through a save point one day and accidentally phased through the code. They ended up in a sort of center point between worlds, from which they could watch other AUs through their savepoints.

Alone, and with nothing but their diary to keep them company, they eventually succumbed to their boredom and took a peek into other AU's - Outertale, Underfell, Storyshift, etc - despite their refusal to do so at first due to the fact that they saw it as an invasion of privacy.

Fascinated by the alternate worlds they saw, worlds that were so familiar yet so different, they began to see these AU's as plays, and themselves as the audience. They began to obsess over and even write stories about the characters they saw, to the point where the line between real and fictional blurred.

When they're not observing the daily lives of the actors on the stage, they like to write info sheets about them in their diary. This includes their physical appearance, personality, likes and dislikes, hobbies, secrets... etc. Amore basically knows everything about everyone due to their constant viewing of various AU's, so they have dirt on everybody. They jokingly refer to their diary as their "Burn Book" for this reason.

Their favorite 'character' is OG Mettaton. They see him as being a representation of their ideal life. A famous star, shining ever so brightly on the surface, unburdened by fear or insecurity.. and with their cousins at their side.

Their least favorite 'character' is Negativetale Mettaton. They don't like acknowledging the fact that there is a universe where everything is so.. hopeless. They also don't like thinking about how she met her end.

Oh well. Stars burn the brightest when they're on the verge of death. The show must go on.

They still have a love for romance, and watch AU's in the same vein as Act to Flirt religiously. They consider Underlust a guilty pleasure.

They have a playful and giddy personality, and are much less shy than they used to be. Since they haven't interacted with a living being in a long time, they come off as weird and overly cheerful. They do still put on a bashful and coy front, however.

They also have a tendency to treat other people like well.. characters. They obsess over tiny facets of their personality, put them into uncomfortable situations to see how they'd react, and doesn't take their feelings seriously most of the time.

They're also very knowledgeable and surprisingly perceptive. Guess doing nothing else but watching other people in their day to day life for a long time makes you pick up a thing or two about how people think.

They look largely the same as they did before, with some small changes. For one, instead of being pure pink, they are iridescent. They have eyes shaped like save points (which spin the same way as well.) They also carry their diary with them wherever they go.